ANITA BAKER WILL SING AT THE ORLANDO ARENA

Anita Baker will bring her soulful, jazzy vocals to the Orlando Arena for a show at 8 p.m. Oct. 12. Opening the concert will be Perri.

Baker's latest LP, Compositions, is near the top spot on Billboard's pop and black/urban charts. Her "Talk to Me" single also is or has been in the adult-contemporary and black/urban Top 10s.

Tickets, at $22.50, will go on sale at 10 a.m. next Friday at Ticketmaster outlets and at the Orlando Arena box office.

The Kentucky HeadHunters will be making a stop at Orlando's Carr Performing Arts Centre for an 8 p.m. show Oct. 5.

The Pickin' on Nashville LP has made the group one of the hottest new acts in country music, and the HeadHunters' current single - a rocking remake of Don Gibson's "Oh, Lonesome Me" - has logged a lot of radio play. The Academy of Country Music awarded the band top-new-group honors during its awards show in April.

Tickets for the HeadHunters, $17.50, will go on sale at 10 a.m. Sept. 8 at Ticketmaster outlets.

Folk singer Suzanne Vega will be making a stop at the Tampa Theatre in Tampa for a performance at 8 p.m. Sept. 28.

Vega is on the road behind her latest LP, Days of the Open Hand, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed 1987 release, Solitude Standing, which earned Vega three Grammy nominations. Tickets, at $20, go on sale today at Ticketmaster.

The Dread Zeppelin show that had been scheduled for tonight at Visage in Orlando has been canceled. Instead, the band will be playing its reggae/Elvis-ized covers of Led Zeppelin classics at Finky's Tonight in Daytona Beach. Tickets for the Daytona show will be $10 at the door. The show will begin at 10 p.m. with doors opening at 6. Those with tickets for the canceled Visage show may return them for a refund at the point of purchase.

Besides Dread Zep, Finky's has lined up the following acts. All the shows will begin at 10 p.m., with doors to open at 6.

Billy Preston - who has worked with Ray Charles and the Beatles, in addition to recording his own hits - will play the club Sept. 16. The Outlaws will pull in for a show Oct. 4, followed by Stranger Oct. 17, the Bama Band Oct. 21 and Meat Loaf Nov. 13. Admission for each show will be $10 at the door.

The Alice Cooper tribute band Sweet Alice will be at Finky's for a Halloween show Oct. 31. Tickets will be $8. And guitarists Rick Derringer and Edgar Winter, who jammed together at the opening ceremonies for Orlando's Hard Rock Cafe earlier in the summer, will pull into Finky's for a show Nov. 29. Tickets will be $12.50.

Central Florida blues band Blooze Shews will be at the Fairbanks Inn in Winter Park at 9 p.m. Tuesday. The hard rock band Midnight will play the club Wednesday through Sept. 9. Admission will be free Tuesday through Thursday, $3 next Friday and Sept. 8, $2 Sept. 9.

Stranger will hit the Inn for a show at 10 p.m. Sept. 19. Tickets are $5 advance (at the Fairbanks Inn) and will be $6 at the door.

Eartha Kitt will perform a poolside show at 9 p.m. Monday as part of the annual Labor Day Luau at the Parliament House Motor Lodge in Orlando. Tickets are $8 advance at the Parliament House box office and will be $10 day of show.

Comedian Richard Jeni will be appearing Sept. 12-15 at Bonkerz comedy club in Orlando's J.J. Whispers nightclub complex. Jeni will be using the Bonkerz shows as a warm-up before going on to Miami to film a special for the Showtime channel. Tickets are $12 for Sept. 12 and 13 and $13 for Sept. 14 and 15.

Matt "Guitar" Murphy - already set to play the Beacham Theatre in Orlando Sept. 19 - will be heading over to Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa for an 8 p.m. show Sept. 25. Tickets for the Tampa show will be $5 at the door. For more information on the Skipper's lineup, call (813) 971-0666.

In 1987, Congress passed a resolution declaring jazz a "rare and valuable national treasure." To mark the anniversary of the declaration, the Central Florida Jazz Society will present a free concert from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Lake Eola Park Amphitheater in downtown Orlando.

Bill Allred and the International Jazz All-Stars will perform ragtime and Dixieland; swing music will be provided by the Scott Whitfield Help Wanted Big Band.

Hispanic culture will be celebrated during Carnival Latino to be held from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 27 and 28 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando.

Headlining the festival will be singer Vikki Carr, Freddy Fender and the Texas Tornados and comedian Paul Rodriguez. In addition, there will be some 40 other Latin performers, hot-air balloon rides, fireworks and Latin and American food. Admission will be $6 for adults and $3 for age 9 and under at the gate.

The Florida Symphony Orchestra will kick off its 1990-91 Picnic With the Pops series with a performance at 8 p.m. Sept. 22 in Orlando's Loch Haven Park. The program will include Rossini's Overture to The Italian Girl in Algiers, Sibelius' Finlandia, Chabrier's Espana, Dvorak's Slavonic Dances No. 1 and 8, Bernstein's Overture to Candide, as well as selections from Camelot, Brigadoon and The King and I.

Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 advance (available at the symphony office on North Mills Avenue in Orlando) and will be $12 at the gate. Students and active military personnel will be admitted for half price.

Sesame Street Silly Dancing (already scheduled for the Sun Dome in Tampa Oct. 3-7) also is coming to the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne Oct. 12-14 and to the Tupperware Convention Center Auditorium in Kissimmee Oct. 17-21.

The Melbourne shows will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12, 1:30 and 5 p.m. Oct. 13 and 14. The Tupperware performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17-19, 1:30 and 5 p.m. Oct. 20 and 21. Tickets range from $8 to $10 for either venue.